Over 2.5 tonnes of explosives looted by Maoists recovered by security forces

BHUBANESWAR: Security forces on Monday recovered over 2.5 tonnes of explosive materials looted by Maoists in Odisha's Sundergarh district, a senior police officer said.

The security personnel of the state's Special Operation Group (SOG), CRPF, Jharkhand's elite Jaguar force and Sundergarh's District Voluntary Force (DVF) during a joint operation in Odisha-Jharkhand border, recovered more than 2.5 tonnes of explosives which was looted by Maoists from K Balang area of Sundergarh district on May 27, the officer told PTI over phone.

"While some of the explosives were buried under the earth, others could be located from underneath rocks," the officer engaged in the operation said, adding that the search operation was continuing since May 28, a day after the Maoists looted the explosives when they were being transported to a stone quarry for blasting purpose.

Though the officer refused to disclose the exact location of the explosive recovery in the jungle, he said the place was part of the Saranda forest and in Jharkhand and some distance from the Odisha border.

Earlier on Friday, the security personnel had recovered some amount of the explosives looted by Maoists following a fierce gun battle with the red rebels.

Around 200 packets of explosives, amounting to about 4 tonnes, mostly gelatin sticks, were looted by Maoists at gun-point in the K Balang area.

Sources, however, said that the explosives were found at Tirilposh, located close to Saranda forest, on the Odisha-Jharkhand inter-state boundary.

According to the police, around 30 armed Maoists from Jharkhand hijacked the gelatin sticks-laden truck by holding the driver of the vehicle at gunpoint.

A day after the looting incident, Odisha DGP Y B Khurania and other senior police officers visited the spot and an NIA team started investigating the matter.

Odisha Police have also constituted an SIT (Special Investigation Team) to probe into the incident.